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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 199
1 - 7 November 2003


CONTENTS:

DRC: MONUC halts militia clash in northeast
DRC: MONUC accuses Kinshasa of blocking plane crash inquiry
DRC: Fighting displaces thousands in Mwenga, South Kivu Province
DRC: HIV/AIDS prevalence 20 percent in certain regions
DRC: Christian charity begins railroad rehabilitation
DRC-RWANDA: Kinshasa pledges to arrest Rwandan Hutu rebels
RWANDA-MALAWI: Kigali, Lilongwe in repatriation agreement
GREAT LAKES: UN refugee agency launches repatriation campaign
BURUNDI: Government, rebel group finalise talks, resolve outstanding issues
CAR: Shigellosis epidemic confirmed in Ouham Pende
ROC: Prison directors call for better conditions
UGANDA: Local company undertakes to produce anti-retrovirals

ALSO SEE:

DRC: Focus on North Kivu rivals seeking peace at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37629

DRC: MONUC halts militia clash in northeast

UN troops intervened on 31 October to stop fighting in northeastern
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between two militia groups, the
Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC) and the Parti pour l'Unite, la
Solidarite et l'Integrite du Congo (PUSIC).

The UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, reported that some 350 UPC
fighters from Mandro and Katoto, equipped with machine guns, RPG-7 rocket
launchers and 81-mm mortars, attacked the lakeside town of Tchomia, 45 km
southeast of Bunia, the main town in Ituri District.

MONUC said on 1 November that it had ordered the militias to cease firing
and to surrender all their weapons or be forcibly disarmed. Once the
fighting ended, MONUC said it imposed a disengagement plan, whereby UPC
combatants withdrew to Niyamba, 5 km north of Tchomia, while PUSIC
combatants withdrew to Kasenyi, 7 km to the southwest. However, MONUC
cautioned that the situation remained "tense and under close supervision"
of its Ituri Brigade. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37595]

DRC: MONUC accuses Kinshasa of blocking plane crash inquiry

MONUC has accused the government of blocking an inquiry into the
crash-landing of a cargo plane believed to have been transporting illegal
arms to groups in South Kivu Province in the east of the country. The
plane was reported to have crashed last week at the Kamina military base,
in central Katanga Province of southeastern DRC.

MONUC spokesman Hamadoun Toure said Congolese soldiers had prevented UN
military observers from visiting the scene of the crash. The plane was
alleged to have been transporting arms to an unspecified location in South
Kivu.

"The [crash] site in Kamina is heavily guarded by soldiers of the
Congolese military who turned back our military observers and roughed up
and arrested the Congolese officer who was accompanying them," Toure said
on Wednesday in a news conference in the capital, Kinshasa.

UN Security Council Resolution 1493 of 28 July 2003 stated that all
parties to conflict in the DRC had "the obligation to provide full and
unhindered access to MONUC to allow it to carry out its mandate" and asked
that MONUC report any failure to comply with this obligation. [Full story
at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37663]

DRC: Fighting displaces thousands in Mwenga, South Kivu Province

Fighting that erupted on 31 October between a Mayi-Mayi militia and a
Rwandan rebel group in South Kivu Province has resulted in the
displacement of thousands of civilians, with an as yet undetermined number
of wounded and dead, MONUC, reported on Monday.

"At present, we do not know if the fighting has ceased or if it
continues," Toure told IRIN in the capital, Kinshasa.

The fighting was reportedly between the Mayi-Mayi militia of Cdr Nakiliba
and the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR) in the Ngando
sector, some 10 km from Mwenga centre.

A Mayi-Mayi representative in Kinshasa said the situation was calm but
tense on Monday morning.

"These people wanted to rape our women and plunder our villages, but they
were met with resistance by our troops," Col Emmanuel Mapenzi, a member of
the unified national military hailing from the Mayi-Mayi militias, told
IRIN.

However, other sources on the ground told IRIN that the FDLR had forced
the Mayi-Mayi to withdraw from Mwenga. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37616]

DRC: HIV/AIDS prevalence 20 percent in certain regions

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the DRC may have reached 20 percent in
certain regions, according to Dr Francois Lepira, the director of the
national programme against AIDS (Programme national de lutte contre le
sida).

The announcement came on Monday as the country's health ministry presented
its new multi-sector plan to fight HIV/AIDS in what it said were some of
the hardest-hit regions, namely Kasai Oriental in central DRC, Katanga in
the southeast, South Kivu in the east, and Orientale in the northeast.

"The four [regions] were chosen, taking into account data from the field
during the recent years of war," Lepira told IRIN. "While estimates
indicate that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is around 5 percent in most
regions of the country, in the regions that have been targeted, the rate
is as high as 20 percent." [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37661]

DRC: Christian charity begins railroad rehabilitation

The Christian charity Food for the Hungry International has begun
rehabilitating 500 km of railroad between the provinces of Maniema and
Katanga in southeastern DRC, the organisation reported on Tuesday.

"This project will provide a strategic connection between the northern and
southern areas of eastern DRC," it said.

It said that a US $1 million grant from the United States Agency for
International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance would
help fund the project. It is estimated that some 3.85 million people would
benefit from using the repaired railway.

The charity said the repaired rails would run between Kindu, the main town
in Maniema, and Ngwena, 48 km south of Kabalo in Katanga. This includes
489 km of track and one railroad bridge at Zofu, 12 km southwest of
Kabalo. [Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37646]

DRC-RWANDA: Kinshasa pledges to arrest Rwandan Hutu rebels

The government of the DRC has vowed to root out Rwandan Hutu rebels in
eastern DRC in a bid to normalise relations with Rwanda.

"We need to open a new chapter in terms of relations between our two
countries," Mbusa Nyamwisi, the Congolese minister for regional
cooperation, announced on 31 October in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

"The Interahamwe [Rwandan Hutu militia] are equally a greater problem for
the DRC that we do not need now. They are in fact at the moment more of a
serious problem for the DRC than Rwanda itself," he added.

As the DRC government expressed commitment to dealing with the
Interahamwe, Rwanda also dropped its long-held claim that Kinshasa was
still supporting the armed Hutu extremists responsible for the country's
1994 genocide. Nyamwisi's visit to Kigali follows that of Rwandan Foreign
Minister Charles Muligande to Kinshasa last week. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37590]

RWANDA-MALAWI: Kigali, Lilongwe in repatriation agreement

The Rwandan and Malawian governments and the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed a tripartite agreement on Tuesday
to repatriate nearly 5,500 refugees who fled to Malawi at the height of
the 1994 genocide.

Under the agreement, signed in Kigali, both governments would sensitise
the Rwandan refugees for voluntary repatriation. However, Malawi's
minister of state for poverty reduction and refugees, Ludovic Shati, said
that any refuge accused of participating in the 1994 genocide and who was
unwilling to return home would be forcibly repatriated.

"If Rwanda makes a legitimate complaint that such an individual is wanted,
then we shall have to hand him over. We cannot keep anybody who has
committed a sin," he said.

The Malawi government will ensure that the refugees are well informed
about the security situation in Rwanda and that they can decide freely
whether or not to repatriate, UNCHR said in a communiqué.

"The government of Rwanda for its part will make certain that the return
of refugees takes place in safety and dignity. To this end, it will also
sensitise the local population of areas in which the returnees will
settle," UNCHR said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37657]

In addition, the governments of Rwanda and Namibia as well as the UNHCR
signed a tripartite agreement on Thursday on the voluntary repatriation of
Rwandan refugees in Namibia.The signatories pledged to support the
repatriation of the 620 refugees in camps and elsewhere in Namibia is due
to begin in early 2004. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37724]

GREAT LAKES: UN refugee agency launches repatriation campaign

UNHCR has launched a repatriation campaign targeting 80,000 Rwandan
refugees, mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the
agency reported on Thursday.

It said its representatives and those of the Ugandan government met on
Monday and Tuesday with refugees at the Nakivale and Oruchinga camps, to
discuss the first organised repatriation programme for 25,000 refugees.
UNHCR said the refugees were in two camps in the southwestern Ugandan
district of Mbarrara.

It said the refugees were believed to be all that remain of an estimated
two million Rwandans who fled to neighbouring countries following the 1994
genocide in their country that left at least 800,000 people dead. [Full
item at http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37711]

BURUNDI: Government, rebel group finalise talks, resolve outstanding
issues

Burundi's transitional government and the country's largest rebel group,
the faction of the Conseil National pour la Defense de la
democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) led by
Pierre Nkurunziza, finalised three days of talks on 1 November, in which
they agreed on four outstanding issues from previous negotiations, an
official told IRIN.

"In three weeks, a government will be formed with the participation of the
CNDD-FDD," Pancrace Cimpaye, the spokesman of Burundian President Domitien
Ndayizeye, said.

He said the controversial issue of temporary immunity for CNDD-FDD
combatants was solved, "but the immunity will be granted to all
belligerents, rebels as well as government troops".

The government and the rebel group agreed on the "technical forces
agreement" on the sharing of posts in the army and the police, the
transformation of the CNDD-FDD into a political party, as well as its
entry into the Senate, Cimpaye said. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37591]

A CNDD-FDD delegation, led by Secretary-General Hussein Radjabu, arrived
in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, on Friday in what South African
Deputy President Jacob Zuma described as a landmark visit.

Zuma, who is also the facilitator of the Burundi peace process, arrived in
Bujumbura on the same aircraft as Radjabu, who was making his first
official visit to the country since civil war broke out in 1993.

"I am very happy to be here today for this short visit which is different
from other visits I have made before," Zuma told reporters at Bujumbura
International Airport. "We are in Bujumbura because the CNDD-FDD
delegation accompanying me needs to hold consultations with the African
Union mission.

He added, "This distinguishes this visit from the others I have made
because it is an indication that peace has indeed arrived." [Full story at
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37722]

CAR: Shigellosis epidemic confirmed in Ouham Pende

An epidemic of shigellosis has been confirmed in the Central African
Republic (CAR), with a total of 379 cases and 23 deaths from 16 June to 29
October 2003, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Wednesday.

It said the cases were in the towns of Paoua and Bozoum, in the Ouham
Pende region of northwestern CAR.

The Institut Pasteur in the capital, Bangui, analysed stool samples and
confirmed the diagnosis of Shigella dysenteriae type 1, which WHO said was
sensitive to Acid Nalidixic and Ciprofloxacine.

"Medecins Sans Frontieres (Spain) and Coopi are supporting the Ministry of
Health in containing the epidemic," WHO reported. "However, since the
affected regions face important population movements as a result of the
recent civil war, the control of the epidemic is not straightforward."
[Full story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37664]

ROC: Prison directors call for better conditions

Prison directors in the Republic of Congo (ROC) have urged the government
to improve the extremely poor conditions of incarceration nationwide.

"Living conditions in our prisons are bad, deplorable," Fidele Bouesso,
the director of Impfondo Prison in Likouala Department, northern ROC, told
IRIN. "We cannot do our work properly, even though we want to. We dare to
hope that the government, upon whom we are calling, will take the
necessary action for the wellbeing of all concerned."

The call for improved conditions came on 31 October at the end of a
seminar held in the capital, Brazzaville, organised by the Association
pour les droits de l'Homme et l'univers carceral (Adhuc), a Congolese
human rights NGO, and sponsored by the Swedish NGO Foundation for Human
Rights.

The participants reported that prison conditions had deteriorated
precipitously across the country, but particularly in the cities of
Brazzaville, Djambala, Dolisie, Owando and Pointe-Noire. Participants also
said prisoners often had to sleep in close proximity to each other, on
pieces of cardboard on the floor, resulting in the rapid spread of
illnesses. Malnutrition was also reported. [Full story at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37622]

UGANDA: Local company undertakes to produce anti-retrovirals

Uganda's estimated 100,000 people living with AIDS, who are in urgent need
of anti-retrovirals (ARVs) but cannot afford them could soon have access
to locally produced ARVs at a cost of less than 50 US cents per day,
according to a Ugandan company planning to produce the drugs.

The Kampala-based Quality Chemicals, which for the past three months has
been importing generic ARVs from Indian-based Cipla Pharmaceuticals, told
IRIN on Wednesday that it planned to set up a factory to manufacture ARVs
before the end of 2004.

"We are working closely with the Ministry of Health and [the] Uganda AIDS
Commission to have this facility in place," Emmanuel Katongole, the
company's managing director, told IRIN. "Our proposal is still being
negotiated with Cipla. What is important is that everyone - us, the
patients, the government, the aid agencies, and our suppliers in Cipla -
wants this to happen. We should be able to find a way."

He said both companies were examining the project's commercial prospects
with a view to slashing the price as low as possible, while still
retaining some profit. He added that the project was also needed to ensure
that ARVs were continuously available, and could be planned for. [Full
story at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37665]


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003


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